Scripture Reflections for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

“What's the purpose of the Church which is both the New Israel and the mystical body of Jesus? It's not to glory in itself. Not to exult in its own separateness but rather the Church, the body of Jesus, is meant to become the vehicle by which the whole world is gathered unto God.”

“How can we speak to an unbelieving world when we as Church ignore each other and ignore the plight of our sisters and brothers as well as their joys?”

“This holiness, this set-apartness he's talking about it means precisely a union with Christ...to be set apart from the world in such a way that now you live in Christ.”

“You're called to think differently, to act differently, to move differently, to react differently. Why now, why, why? Because you're called to think, act, move and react according to love. See, that's what Christ is, that's who God is.”

“Christ is...present with us in our major suffering; but he is just as present with us in the lesser challenges. He is quite simply with us at all points: the life-changing moments and the less significant moments that make up the bulk of most of our lives.”

“God had said ‘I will be your God and you will be my people’. Everything recounted in the Old Testament records the fortunes of that covenant-relationship and, more importantly, looks forward to its consummation in the advent of the Messiah, the Christ.”

“The way we live our lives, whether we like it or not, acts as a sign that conveys a particular message to those we encounter”

“John was assuming that the goodness, the blessing that was going to come down on Jesus was coming from his own goodness. And it wasn't because goodness doesn't come from us, it comes from God”

“Into this dreary situation John the Baptist asks us to notice that the Lamb of God is among us, that the Spirit of God dwells within you and that the Creator has worked to reconcile all the world”

“So there were sacrifices of reparation for sin, yeah. Sometimes, though, simply sacrifices of communion or thanksgiving. But in any case something was returned to God as a sign of one's desire for union.”

“That's what this reading is about. It's telling us who Jesus is in his deepest identity. “Behold, the Lamb of God.” The simple, humble servant who out of love has born a way from us that which most bedevils us.”

“What are you doing to better understand God’s will for you—your call to be holy?”

“the prophet’s work is not just his or her own work, but the work of the God who set us free precisely by taking us over. True autonomy is being possessed by the Spirit of God.”

“for John, the mission of Christ is all encompassing. It is not just the humble servant, the lamb that lays down his life for the sins of the world but he is also the fierce lion that defends his people against the powers of this world and the underworld.”

“The abiding Spirit, reaching from beginning to the end of the Scriptures, advises us to reach beyond our grasp, and yet never to be discouraged and lose heart if what we grasp is beyond our reach!”

“It’s too easy to forget who God is, it’s too easy to not get to know His Son, and think we’ve got it all figured out and that we can handle it. It’s too easy to think things aren’t so bad, and that we have full control.”

“This Sunday’s readings tell us that God has chosen each of us and we can put our trust in God.”

“Most of us experience the stretched-out anguish of being uncertain what God is asking of us...He wants us to learn to wait on the Lord and to learn to be patient with Him and ourselves.”

“Saint John the Baptist is our spiritual hero, because he lived his life on faith alone. Jesus Christ was his reason for living, and his reason for dying as well.”

“We still have difficulty seeing Jesus, especially within people who are of a different religion, race or socio-economic group than we are. We can let our prejudices and fears blind us to the light of Christ emanating from others.”

“We have, therefore, a responsibility to be ‘phosphorescent’. We are called to be ‘carriers of light’, signs and instruments of the light and love which the Lamb of God has brought into the world.”

“Paul says 'I preach one thing, Christ, him crucified.' He never forgets that Jesus is the suffering servant”

“Here's the challenge, Christians, not to set our own agenda, not to set our own path but to let ourselves be named, chosen, called, set apart, rendered distinctive precisely by Jesus Christ because in his will, not our own, is our peace”